My club has been using OS Max LA .40 's for our pylon races but they have been discontinued. We have been looking into these engines GMS .40 ABC, Super Tiger .40, O.S. 25FX / Non-Ringed w/Muffler, GMS .32 ABC BB, SuperTigre G-34 Dual BB Ringed w/Muffler, and Magnum XL-28A w/Remote Needle Valve. We would like to have something similar to the O.S we were using. Any comments?

What airframe are you racing?

Hogflyer

Weird I could have sworn that I answered this very post...

Compared to the other .40 engines you list, and even to the GMS .32 and the ST G34... the OS LA .40 is less powerful.

As a result all of those engines will fly the planes faster if properly propped.

The closest to the LA will be the Magnum or the OS 25 FX.... although the LA would be more like a .30 FX.

The ST's are fine, but getting the midrange right is a bear at times.

The GMS's ( and the Tower Hobbies, which they make ... ) are fairly good, provided you leave them as is, run a few tanks through them, then tighten everything up, return and then fly...

The Thunder Tiger GP-42 is a good replacement for the O.S. Max .40 LA, although it is a bit more powerful. The O.S. Max .46 LA has not been discontinued, and it would also be a good replacement.

For some good info and discussion on this subject, scroll down to the Pylon Forum, general pylon discussions. This subject is pretty well hashed out there by active users.

The Chinese made Super Tiger 40's are great engines. They have performance potential and are dirt cheep even compared with the old 40LA.

I've been around several of these ST 40's recently and they perform flawlessly.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXFV69&P=ML

As Horace said, this very subject is being discussed on the Pylon forum, general racing discussion. There are several threads there by active club 40 racers.

Ask your questions there and you will get your answers.

Pick either the cheapest or the weakest.

You want participation, that's how you get it.

And put it on an airplane that is either perfectly suited to it or somewhat larger than that.

Club racing is about the flying. And you'll have some members who look at the plane/engine required and make the purchase decision based on whether or not that investment be pounded down a rathole or usable for other things. Speaking of RATS...........

C/L used to have a racing event call rat racing. It became hugely popular when men were men but then started refining. The refinement went to very expensive and harder to handle engines and the everyday engines and lowbudget racing went right into a rathole. And the event very slowly went in too. And even some of the real men wandered away. And along came slow rat. And Fox rat. All were cheap to get into and promised limited performance. And that event exploded. Cheap engines, low tech airplanes.

I know the tt pro 40 is used alot in club pylong racing.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXKF96

We are flying the world models aircombat series. The Yak 9-d, the spitfire, the p-47 and the zero.

http://www.theworldmodels.com/para/p...?airplaneid=20
http://www.theworldmodels.com/para/p...?airplaneid=21
http://www.theworldmodels.com/para/p...?airplaneid=22
http://www.theworldmodels.com/para/p...?airplaneid=23

These are the specifications

Wing Span : 48 in / 1220 mm
Wing Area : 437sq in / 28.2 sq dm
Flying Weight : 3.0 lbs / 1400 g
Fuselage Length : 41.0 in / 1040 mm
Engine Required : 2-stroke 0.25

So we can't really fly any really heavy engines.

For those planes, it would be very hard to beat the OS 25 FX. User friendly and will last a life time!
If you were using the OS LA 40 on these planes, you will notice an increase in authority from the FX!

The OS 25FX is a very nice trouble free engine. Seems to have a lot of power.

I looked at the O.S 25 fx and it looks like a good engine. Do you think the price will discourage potential racers from joining our pylon races?

It is $25 more than what the LA40 cost

The Magnum XLS 36 would be a nice modern up to date choice? It's relatively new on the market.

http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/210640.asp

So the Magnum xls 36 would be your second choice after the O.S 25 fx?

Does anyone have an Magnum XLS 36? If so does it have any problems ?

The engine is relatively new on the Market and Hobby People are out of stock at the moment.

If you are looking for a comparison, the engine will run a little better than the OS 32SX. The magnum looks identical to the OS. The 32 SX screams better than the OS 25FX.

Here's what the OS 32SX looks like but it costs too much

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXBY43&P=ML

Why not use the OS46LA ??

All the engines you've listed are really in the same price range, $55-$70. The difference from cheapest to most expensive wouldn't stop anyone from racing if they wanted to race. And the $68 for the 46LA isn't the most expensive anyway. And the motor mount holes are as wide as the 40LAs' you've been using so it'd be possible to swap this one in on existing planes with only a bit of work, not a major amount.

People are used to handling the 40LA and this won't be any different. Plus the power difference isn't going to be tremendously less or a bunch more.

And let 'em run existing planes and whatever 40LAs are still kicking.

Here's another commonly available engine that runs pretty good?

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDXM0&P=7

Those are okay but they are going to be discontinued when they sell all the Os 46 la's they have in stock.